[release] ArchBang 1.04

ArchBang LIVE CD v1.04
md5sum: c80adb60e0254cc097309f75481cf5b7
ArchBang LIVE CD v1.04 64 bit
md5sum: 09a2eaf8b09f0cbda30395beda547587

ArchBang 1.04 is out in the wild both 32bit & 64bit versions!
Please check your ISO’s md5sum
Changes:
-We went “lite mode” by stripping off packages so the iso just 445MB [x86] and 464MB [x64].

-Floppy disabled in modules

-USB delay changed from 5 to 8
-Chromium instead of Firefox
-New look
-Added Centerim & irssi & catfish
-leafpad instead of gedit

ENJOYYYYYYYYY and give us your feedback!

For the next releases:
-An installer
-Your comments will help us see what else could be improved

And there’s now a wiki entry.

[release] ArchBang-1.03



ArchBang LIVE CD  = Arch Linux w/ OpenBox (inspired from #!) so ArchBang!!!

Project started by: Willxtreme

Project Thread:  http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=89627&p=1

My contribution: Building the x86_64 version.

Currently we are planning on 1.04 release where we want to present an installer. So, for now it’s just a Live CD which you can use in USB Key as well. Please read the thread to know how to do that!

Download 32bit and/or 64bit .

[screenshot] A simple screenshot with conkyrc

I am using the following: Compiz, tint2 and 2 conkys. That’s it!

Here is the top conkyrc :

http://s2.sigmirror.com/files/52625_dqs9e/conkyrc

And the right conkyrc:

http://s2.sigmirror.com/files/52626_fkdnz/.conkyrc2

I’ve not written the gmail, weather and calender scripts and have not shared.

You can Google them easily!

Regards

[script] Easy Backup Solution using rsync

I will be writing this guide as a part of my upcoming “Arch System Maintenance Guide”. When you are using Linux, you should always take regular backups. It is secure, it is stable and all that, but backup is very important to aid you in case you make a mess of your system. I will be writing the script to backup the entire system, excluding a few folders/files,etc. So here is the script.

mkdir ~/.rsync && cd ~/.rsync
wget http://s2.sigmirror.com/files/53582_x8b8x/rsync.sh
wget http://www.sigmirror.com/files/50262_e92yu/exclude
wget http://www.sigmirror.com/files/50261_xjpd3/warn

Now, make sure you have rsync and zenity installed. If you are using Gnome, zenity should already be installed but just in-case, if you are using a Debian-based distro like ubuntu, or even Debian do:

sudo apt-get install zenity rsync

Rsync is already present there for Slackers, check out zenity at Slackbuilds. Note: This will require a few Gnome dependencies, so  you can use xdialog or a Qt equivalent tool.

If you are using Xdialog instead, open the warn file and replace the zenity line with:

 Xdialog --msgbox Plugin\ Your\ Backup\ Drive 10 50

Save it and exit. If for some reason cron fails to launch the Warning message box, put “DISPLAY=:0″ in front of zenity or Xdialog line.

Now, in my script I have started backup from root, excluding a few directories like /proc, /dev , and a few of my personal files. So you need to edit that file. Open the exclude file with a text editor [nano], and remove my folders [I kept them intentionally to make you do some work, lol ] and add whatever files or folders you would like to exclude from Backing up. We also exclude all .bak and .~ files from backups.

Edit the rsync.sh file to specify what drive path to use for backup. I use /media/backup in my External HDD.  So replace that accordingly.

Now it’s time to edit your cron.

sudo nano /var/spool/cron/your-user-name-here

10 8 * * * ~/.rsync/warn 1> /dev/null
sudo nano /var/spool/cron/root
15 8 * * * /home/username/.rsync/rsync.sh 1> /home/username/cronlog

Set the backup time according to your preference. The first field is minutes and the next one is hours. So cron warns me with a popup message box warning me to Plugin my External HDD for Backup and 5 minutes later my Backup starts. If you want to keep a weekly or monthly [not recommended!] backup instead, create your cron line easily using this.

After this save it and exit, check if the entry was created:

sudo crontab -l $USER

You may need to restart cron daemon:

sudo /etc/rc.d/crond restart

Or init.d, whatever your system uses. You can even reboot if you want to.

Also make sure all the scripts have execute permissions on them:

sudo chmod +x ~/.rsync/* 

Enjoy!

[video] Slackware64 -13.0 with Bootsplash

Please note: I made this video with a mobile phone cam and so the Video is pretty poor quality. Also I had to use Audioswap to replace the barking of my dog.
For those who believe that Slackware is just another geeky distro with no eye-candy, well you are wrong. It’s all about customization. Anything you can do with any GUI-based distros like Ubuntu or openSUSE, you can do those with Slackware.
First of all apologies for poor video quality, took this one with my mobile phone cam. This is just to show an idea to the world that Slackware is not all about “all text and no fun”.
Using splashy with Slackwar64 – current [but works in 13.0 as well] and Fluxbox with a conky on top and Gkrellm.

[guide] Patch and Compile Kernel with Custom Boot Logo

Unlike every other distro, Slackware doesn’t brand anything. Everything is vanilla. So when you boot, you see the original linux penguin logo at the top of your screen.

Download the latest kernel source from kernel.org. I’ll be using here kernel 2.6.32 source and 2.6.32.1 patch. So you understand that you don’t need to download the whole kernel source every-time a new kernel version is released. If you have the previous source or a kernel source which is older, say 2.6.31, then you will need all the subsequent incremental patches from 2.6.31.1 to 2.6.32.1 and you will need to apply them one by one to the kernel source. I’ll just be showing one.

[slackware] Upgrade to Firefox 3.5.6

Fixed in Firefox 3.5.6

MFSA 2009-71 GeckoActiveXObject exception messages can be used to enumerate installed COM objects
MFSA 2009-70 Privilege escalation via chrome window.opener
MFSA 2009-69 Location bar spoofing vulnerabilities
MFSA 2009-68 NTLM reflection vulnerability
MFSA 2009-67 Integer overflow, crash in libtheora video library
MFSA 2009-66 Memory safety fixes in liboggplay media library
MFSA 2009-65 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.9.1.6/ 1.9.0.16)

The last 3 are critical fixes. Currently Slackware has 3.5.5 if you have been following the Security-fixes, else 3.5.2 which comes in Slackware 13.0.

What you need to do is find the package cairo-1.8.6 and remove it.Slack64 users:

removepkg cairo-1.8.6-x86_64-3-upgraded-2009-12-17

Then download and build the cairo-1.8.8 package. You can get the slackbuild script in your DVD in directory:  /l

Then installpkg it. Now download the Firefox 3.5.6 source code from here and use the build script in /xap directory to build the Firefox3.5.6 package. Then:

upgradepkg mozilla-firefox-3.5.6-x86_64-1_slack13.0

NOTE: While using the Slackbuilds don’t forget to change the versions to the latest.

EDIT: Pycairo can be upgraded as well. It built without the pyCairo upgrade so I didn’t notice. Thanks to JokerBoy for bringing it to my notice. Source , slackbuilds can be found in /l like cairo.

Regards